Netanyahu has officially given up on forming a government in Israel and is passing the torch to Benny Gantz, the opposition leader. What this really means, however, is that Israel is probably headed to more elections:
#BREAKING #Israel PM Netanyahu gave back his mandate to make a government to the President. Opposition leader Gantz will now have a chance to form a coalition, but he does not have the numbers. We are getting close to another elections
— Guy Elster (@guyelster) October 21, 2019
#BREAKING: Israeli PM Netanyahu has returned the mandate to form a coalition to Israeli @PresidentRuvi; The president is expected to give @gantzbe the mandate to form a goverment
— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) October 21, 2019
Gantz is expected to officially get the mandate tomorrow:
#Breaking: Rivlin is expected to grant Benny Gantz the mandate to form Israel's new government as early as tomorrow. He is the first man in 11 years not named "Benjamin Netanyahu" to be thus tasked. He'll have 28 days.
— Noga Tarnopolsky (@NTarnopolsky) October 21, 2019
If you happen to speak Hebrew, here is Netanyahu’s announcement on this:
הודעה חשובה ממני אליכם pic.twitter.com/cZ7Riua3La
— Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) October 21, 2019
For those who don’t speak Hebrew, the Times of Israel summarizes his comments:
In a video statement, Netanyahu said he had worked “incessantly” over the past 26 days to form a “broad national unity government,” which would include his Likud party’s religious allies and the rival Blue and White party, but had been thwarted by its leader Gantz. “That’s what the people want,” he said. “That’s what Israel needs.”
“Over the past few weeks I’ve made every effort to bring Benny Gantz to the negotiating table,” Netanyahu said. “Unfortunately, he just simply refused time after time.”
I guess in another month Israel will be headed for new elections, unless Gantz pulls off a miracle. This would be the third election since last April.